Oddities

A man riding down from Solares Hill towards the cemetery on a Honda Metropolitan. Quintessential Key West,you might say, and notice the pronounced slope from the island's highest point, estimated at around 16 feet (5 meters) above sea level. I was out walking aimlessly around the middle part of town, around William and Margaret Streets, on a hazy sunny afternoon last Thursday. A developer is planning on turning the four million dollar historic Harris School on Southard Street into something new. For now it sits forlorn amidst it's empty parking lot awaiting the costly face lift:In a recent post Pefley in Seattle identified a classic car he photographed. I have no idea what this is on William Street. It looks like it would be more at home 90 miles south in Havana.
I think this next sad object under a mouldy tarp is a Corvair. Maybe not:The red blob in the middle of the fence says "No Trespassing" though how you are supposed to trespass a fence that tall I have no idea, not being a pole vaulter.

Living life in North Carolina seems to involve enjoying life in Key West as well. Good job, kayak bicycle and spend money chaps.I was prompted to take a picture of the interior when I noticed the multiplicity of wires and mounting brackets and general electronic crap. Living life indeed!Better living through electrons. This next one cracked me up after I double checked what I was seeing through the cemetery fence.The bronze colored plaque celebrates the dead person's service in the Civil War fighting in the rebellion against the Union and someone has seen fit to mark the spot with a Union Flag. That is really missing the point with delicious irony. In the next picture I saw riepe's over sized dog celebrated in a bumper sticker. Of course I had to take the picture whereupon I spotted the burger joint sticker as well.For my take on the In-N-Out phenomenon here is a link to an essay I wrote about my last visit to that particular burger chain in California's Central Valley:

http://conchscooter.blogspot.com/2007/09/in-and-out.html

For the sentimental types I include a photo of an orchard blooming in February:No cat is safe that we care for, none, to paraphrase Gilbert and Sullivan's Three Little Maids in Mikado:An international incident was narrowly averted by pre-emptive use of the extend-a-leash. I looked around when I saw the scribble on the street sign painted on a power pole:Indeed the city seems to have forgotten to label Carsten's Lane as one way from William to Margaret. The penciled notation might help. It happened that I started noticing tin roofs, like this delightful antique rusting gently under the southern sun and salt:

Or this old style tin roof in much better shape: I love these particular Key West roof styles:
This church tower on Fleming reminds me of the Missionary church tower they invented for the movie Vertigo, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. He set part of the movie in the mission church at San Juan Bautista in Central California but the church does not actually have a tower so they made one up for the movie. Had Hitchcock lived here instead of in Santa Cruz County he could have used this Congregational Church tower to show Jimmy Stewart losing his mind over another blonde:

And talking about pencilled scribbles I spotted this phone number written down as though by some dork who hadn't heard of pen and paper. What a weird way to disfigure a gateway.This next oddity must have a proper botanical name but it put me in mind of things more biological than botanical.And then I came across this conveyance, a vestige of a proud 20th century corporation, now said to be headed towards ownership by the Russian mob. Or not because GM is currently owned by the US government who is embarrassed by news that the Dutch buyers of the Saab brand are backed by the Mafiya.It happens that people call 9-1-1 and we need to get what we call "descriptors" of the people involved in whatever thing is being reported. All too often callers say "white shirt and brown shorts" or "black shirt, tan shorts" or something like that. "The Key West uniform" I think to myself as I dutifully note down the clothing details. they are supposed to help in case the people move away and officers are out looking for them.

Sometimes we get the word that someone is wearing plaid shorts for a change. A comely young woman in this case. The two other uniform toting people are men.

But the uniform is pretty much the uniform, though locals tend to eschew name brands and visitors manage to look spiffy at the same time. For readers who reside in 1990's style suburban boredom these two pictures:These and other assorted stairways lead not to heaven (usually) but to small cramped inefficient apartments that cost as much to rent as whole blocks of Detroit or Cleveland cost to buy. You would be horrified. Which leads one to ponder what exactly this means:Old Skool Orin has made a point of Portland's efforts to keep the city weird. Key West does that with one hand tied behind it's collective back. Keeping the attitude down to a low hum is a lot harder. I like the live and let live philosophy so I try not to support change for change's sake when an issue comes up.

Then it was time to park the dog and head off to the movies. Cheyenne is actually welcome at the Tropic Cinema on Eaton but I am going to wait till summer comes and the theater isn't as crowded and she will be more used to being out in public with me. Life on the back seat of the Nissan Maxima isn't so bad.On my way down Eaton Street I started to see motorcycles. This is one of the major arteries into Old Town and new arrivals line up around here to take advantage of the guest houses close to Duval Street. This people appeared to be from Manitoba. One would like to think they rode the whole way.In Key west the utility of a small motor scooter cannot be overstated:

Try doing this with a dressed cruiser:Putting multiple vehicles in one parking space is legal in Key West, but if the meter runs out all vehicles in the spot get a ticket. There is tons of free motorcycle parking so you'd think people would use it. I had the great joy of encountering Tony at the corner of Duval and Eaton. We discussed the Bible verse about judging not, lest ye be judged which led us down a dark dead end of disagreement. A young woman walked by and shouted "You give Christians a bad name!" to which Tony replied with a venomous comment that involved an asshole. I told him I was shocked and he looked at me with contempt.Of course the anonymous woman is right, Tony just makes public what Christians don't want to say out loud. They hate fags. Bummer, but what shocks me is how many fags want to belong to a club that views them as sinners. People are just incomprehensible to me; if you need to believe in the unbelievable become a Druid, a group of tree worshippers who I don't think care about sexual orientation. Here's another preposterous sign seen as I walked back to the car from having seen and enjoyed A Single Man, ironically enough a superb story well told about a fag! I suppose that makes me a fag enabler, or something.A tumble down house still on offer for a price that seems to ignore quite happily the realty of the US real estate market. Perhaps unreality is another fine Key West quality.

Eaton Street at seven o'clock at night and warm as a summer's day. Ah, Key West.